ISSN: 2349 -2147

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Gyanabati Khuraijam

An International Title: Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in Journal of English from North-East India: A Brief

Humanities and Social Survey Sciences Author/s: Kh. Kunjo Singh www.modernresearch.in

Volume 1, Issue 1 June 2014 pp. 35–49.

Email: [email protected] [email protected] Managing Editor: Yumnam Oken Singh

ISSN: 2349-2147 Modern Research Studies: An International Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

Prof. KH. KUNJO SINGH Head, Department of English Manipur University, India

Abstract: The term ‘ecopolitics’ refers to the various aspects of ecology, biodiversity, ecomysticism, ecofeminism and ecosophy. ‘Ecopolitics’ also known as ‘Green Politics’ will be used as the basic tool for analyzing the writings of the chosen authors from different states of Northeast India. Prose writing in English from Northeast India is a powerful one dealing with the themes of nationhood, identity, insurgency, ethnic violence, corruption in the bureaucracy, home, migration, exile, memory, etc. A regional ecological concern is inherent in most of the writing. The ecological and acoustical world is explored in the plays written in Manipuri and Assamese and translated into English. These plays deal with ecology, myths and legends, tradition, mysticism, etc. There is the enactment of the very idea of ecomysticism – the idea of living together peacefully and maintaining a balance in the entire ecosystem.

Contemporary poetry in English from India’s Northeast has multifaceted voices. It presents a vista of images of the mountains, hills, rivers, myths and legends, tradition and culture, and multi-ethnic people of the region. Identity crisis, a sense of alienation and migrancy are some of the dominant features of contemporary politics in the Northeast. The poets of this region strongly advocate preservation of the ecology of their region to preserve their land, native tradition and culture, and above all, their identity amidst cultural and political hegemony. Keywords: Ecopolitics, ecosophy, green politics, ecofeminism, affinity, polemics, degeneration, indigenous, prophetic.

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

The term ‘ecopolitics’ refers to the various aspects of ecology, biodiversity, ecomysticism, ecofeminism and ecosophy. Ecopolitics covers subjects like checking destruction and degeneration of ecology, mystifying its existence and providing its role in upholding the peace and prosperity of humanity. The present ecological crisis is leading to political, economic and social crisis for human civilization. Discussion on ‘Ecopolitics’ also known as ‘Green Politics’ will be used as the basic tool for analyzing the writings of the chosen authors from different states of Northeast India. Of the many genres, prose writing in English from Northeast India is a powerful one. The dominant themes in both fiction and non- fiction are: nationhood, identity, insurgency, ethnic violence, corruption in the bureaucracy, home, migration, exile, memory etc. A regional ecological concern is inherent in most of the writing. To name some of the representative prose writers of the region, we may mention Mamang Dai, Yeshe Dorji Thongchi (Arunachal Pradesh); Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya, Hem Barua, Indira Goswami, Arup Kumar Dutta, Mitra Phukan, Dhruba Hazarika, Arupa Patangia Kalita, Sanjoy Hazarika, Sanjib Baruah (Assam); Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi, Thingnam Kishan Singh, Tayenjam Bijoykumar Singh, Pradip Phanjoubam, Yumlembam Ibomcha (Manipur); Patricia Mukhim, Siddartha Deb, Anjum Hasan (Meghalaya); Margaret Chalthantluangi Zama, Margaret Lalmuanpuii Pachuau, Mona Zote (Mizoram); Temsula Ao, Easterine Iralu, Charles Chasie, Anungla Aier (Nagaland); etc. Eco-consciousness is a significant feature in the writings of these writers. Arunachal Pradesh writer Mamang Dai’s novel, The Legends of Pensam deals with the ecology of Arunachal Pradesh by merging history, myth, tradition, memory and fiction together. The story revolves around the myths, legends, tradition and culture of the ‘Adis’, one of the major tribes, and re-invents that part of history which is yet unexposed. A world with ecofeministic ideals is vividly seen through the clash between tradition and modernity in the novel.

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

Birendra Kumar Bhattacharyya, a Jnanpith Awardee and a prominent writer from Assam, in his novel Love in the Time of Insurgency, tells ‘a story that had never been told.’ Set in Nagaland during the World War II, the novel talks about war, love and life in a large dimension. The landscape and the ecology of Nagaland as well as the Northeast India and the environmental degradation due to the war are much talked about in the novel.

The novel A Bowstring Winter by Dhruba Hazarika portrays life in Shillong, Meghalaya’s capital city in the 1970s. Shillong with all its ecological features has been projected as the main character of the novel, which is divided into three parts named after three months of the year – “U Naiwieng” (November), “U Nohprah” (December), and “U Kyllalyngkot” (January). The affinity of the tribal people with nature and sharing a deep ecological relationship with it is celebrated in many occasions. In many places in the novel ecomystical sentiments are heard.

Another Jnanpith Awardee Indira Goswami, popularly known as Momoni Raisom Goswami, from Assam expresses a strong ecological concern in her novels like Pages Stained with Blood or The Man from Chinnamasta or The Shadow of Kamakhya. The major themes of Goswami’s writings are insurgency in the region, the complexities of modern life and an all pervading love. The plight of women and their trauma in a patriarchal society are touchingly portrayed in most of her writing. The biodiversity of the region, with a rich flora and fauna has been a recurrent presentation in her writings. The peaceful coexistence of man and animal in Northeast India is the dominant feature of her writings. There is ecomystical ideal in her writings.

Mitra Phukan, another celebrated Assamese novelist writing in English narrates a touching story of a young lady called Rukmini in her novel A Collector’s Wife. With the probing into the inner life of the protagonist, the story also deals with the atmosphere of terror, violence and insurgency prevailing in Assam during the last three decades. The agitation of the 1970s and 1980s and the growth of full blown insurgency are vividly presented. Moreover, she speaks of the threat

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

and the sense of insecurity among the indigenous people posed by the illegal migration from Bangladesh and ecological issues are also dealt with in this work.

Siddartha Deb from Meghalaya in his debut novel The Point of Return develops the story of father-son relationship. Adjudged a New York Times Notable Book of the year in 2002, the novel is set in an unnamed town, presumably Shillong, the capital city of Meghalaya. This partly autobiographical novel also delves deep into the world of corruption in the bureaucracy, communal violence and ethnic clashes rampant in Meghalaya. One may also have an idea of ecology from a few passages in the novel. His novel Surface is also set in one of the regions in Northeast India. This unnamed remote part of India is referred to as ‘the region’ which might be Manipur, one of the states in India’s northeast. There are a number of references presenting the unique ecology of the land as well as the peaceful co-existence of the local tribes with nature.

A Meghalayan poet, novelist and chronicler Anjum Hasan has published two novels Lunatic in My Head (2007) and Neti, Neti (2009), a collection of poems entitled Street on the Hill (2006) and a number of short fictions, reviews and essays in many books and journals. Her debut novel Lunatic in My Head was shortlisted for the Crossword Book Award 2007 and her second novel Neti, Neti was on the long list for the 2008 Man Asian Prize and was shortlisted for the Hindu Best Fiction Award in 2010 and the 2011 DSC Prize for South Asian Literature. In Lunatic in My Head, she talks about roots, identity, clash of culture, home, etc. There are voices in the novel raised on the issue of identity born out of the outsider – insider conflict. The outsider also has an identity crisis, a fear of losing its originality. The outsider – insider conflict has been predominantly a burning issue of politics in the Northeast India since 1947. Politics of displacement, migration, and ever raising voices for new homelands have been ravaging the entire region. An atmosphere of doubt and distrust is created by the polemics of power between the ‘insider’ and the ‘outsider’. The divide between them may also be seen as the postcolonial distance between the ‘self’ and the ‘other’.

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

Biakliana, the writer of the first ever Mizo novel Hawilopari also wrote the first ever Mizo short story, ‘Lali’ (Zama 2004: 9). This story of a girl called Lali portrays the hopes and aspirations, pain and pleasure, the agony and conflicts of human life. Along with the presentation of some of the traditions of the Mizo society, it also delineates the predicament of women in a male-dominated society. ‘Thunderbird’ by Vanneihtluanga of Mizoram is a short story celebrating the invincible human spirit that has been inspiring human beings, all through the ages to stand against all odds of life. The story can also be studied with a Deep Ecological perspective as it seems to portray the age-old bond between the human world and the world of nature and the peaceful co-existence of the two worlds. There are also references to traditional Mizo rites and rituals as well as Mizo myths and legends.

Kaphleia’s Mizo short story ‘Chhingpuii’ presents a good number of Mizo traditional songs. The story also has references to the wonderful landscape of Mizoram. These Hills Called Home by Temsula Ao, a collection of short stories, is the saga of ordinary people in an atmosphere of violence and bloodshed. Naga people’s struggle for an independent Nagaland and their continuing search for identity provide the background to these stories. The predicament of children, housewives, older people, or even the militant in a violent atmosphere of insurgency are some of the important themes of these stories.

Easterine Eralu, a Naga writer from Nagaland wrote the first novel in English from Nagaland entitled A Naga Village Remembered. The novel gives an account of the great battle of Khonoma (1879 – 1880) and of the advent of the Christian Missionaries to Nagaland. The novel abounds in references to tribal faiths, festivals, myths and legends, hills, rivers and forests of Nagaland, the entire ecology of the region. The novel reflects the writer’s concern for the degeneration of ecology. In fact, the novel reflects the degradation of pristine ecology (N. Das 2011, 288). A Terrible Matriarchy, another novel by Easterine Eralu, talks about gender inequality. She raises this issue from a new perspective, showing how women exploit women in a setup of matriarchal hegemony.

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

Apart from all those writers mentioned above, there have been quite a good number of non-fictional writers discussing some of the core issues of the Northeastern region of India. Sanjoy Hazarika, the international journalist, in his book Strangers of the Mist delves deeper into the history of insurgency in Northeast India.

In his book The Brahmaputra, Arup Kumar Dutta makes a historical and anatomical survey of the Brahmaputra, discusses the myths and legends associated with the river. Going back to the pages of remote history, he finds out scriptural references to this river. The book also talks about the ethics and values of the indigenous people regarding Brahmaputra. The traditional ecomystical ideals of the people of this region are reflected in these discussions.

Sanjib Baruah’s book Durable Disorder: Understanding the Politics of Northeast India addresses the issues of search for identity, ethnicity, aspirations for new homelands, and crisis of displacement. The book also talks about the geopolitics of the region as well as the tradition and culture of the tribal communities of the region. Thus the political life of the region and the cultural aspects along with ecological greatness constituting the ecopolitics are vividly discussed in both the fictional and non-fictional prose writings in English of the Northeast.

The ecological and acoustical world is explored in the plays written in Manipuri and Assamese and translated into English. Exhibiting local colours, local sense and sentiment, these plays deal with some of the core issues of the region: ecology, myths and legends, tradition, mysticism, etc. and have a universal appeal.

A major Manipuri playwright G.C. Tongbra tries to expose the anomalous conditions in the society and envisions a better life through his plays and ecofeministic ideas can be marked in his plays. To him sustaining of life is the fundamental question of human beings and so he challenges the issues of morality, law or justice as impediments to the life of the exploited class of the society.

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

Another Manipuri playwright Ratan Thiyam seems to be very much concerned about the erosion of human values resulting in the degradation of ecology. His plays have a prophetic voice and spiritual yearnings amidst the chaotic socio-political atmosphere of the present world. Ratan is not only a sensible theatre personality and an artist of high caliber, but also an activist very much aware of and sensitive to various contemporary issues. Ecological concerns are strongly voiced in his plays. He also rediscovers the folklores, myths and legends of Manipur and bestows upon them contemporary meaning.

Bus Stop is a play written by another important playwright from Manipur Athokpam Tomchou Singh. The play depicts the ecological crisis posed by the changing values in the name of modernization. As the play reiterates the need to develop a new environmental ethics, that can restore peace and harmony, a sense of ecomysticism can be heard in the play. A notable Manipuri playwright of the post-war era, Arambam Somorendra Singh wrote Leipaklei (A Tender Earth Flower, 1988). He attacks the hollow pretensions of the middle class and envisages a better society where human beings can live an unburdened life. The play has presented myriad views of ecology.

Another forceful playwright of Manipur, Wairokpam Kamini Singh (1948 –) wrote Hing-ning-liba Thawai (A Soul, Still Wishing to Stay Alive). The play presents the playwright’s serious concern for the loss of human values in the modern society. Suggestions for ending the overall degeneration in modern living and for a revival of the good old days of the past by going back to nature as a solace are hinted in the play. Human beings can peacefully survive on this earth only by identifying themselves with nature. And this fact is exposed in the play. And so echoes of ecomysticism are recurrently heard in this play.

An eminent Assamese poet and playwright Ganesh Gogoi (1907-1937) wrote Saikunir Protisodh (Revenge of Sakuni). A remarkable play in the history of Assamese drama, the play centres round the character of Sakuni, the maternal uncle of the ‘Kauravas’ in the great Indian epic the Mahabharata. The play can be studied from ecofeminist ideologies. It is also interesting to note that recent concept

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

of ecofeminism dates back even to the age of the epics. The ecofeminists opine that the notion of womanhood is a social construct and women have been without a ‘space’ in all ages of human history. Ecofeminism believes that nature as a woman/mother has been exploited and treated as a passive object by the patriarchal society. The play Revenge of Sakuni opens up many such issues, strengthening the claim of the ecofeminists.

Another outstanding Assamese playwright is Arun Sarma (1931 –). He wrote The Wolf Man that expresses the agony of the rootless people, and Robes of Destiny (2009), The Fortress of Fire) and Aditir Atmakatha (Aditi’s Autography). Ecocritical principles may be adopted in studying these plays. Thus, ecology, ecofeminism and ecomysticism are in a matrix in the plays from the Northeast. There is the enactment of the very idea of ecomysticism – the idea of living together peacefully and maintaining a balance in the entire ecosystem.

Contemporary poetry in English from India’s Northeast has multifaceted voices. It is an expression of an individual poetic self as well as the saga of the people of the region in general. It presents a vista of images of the mountains, hills, rivers, myths and legends, tradition and culture, and multi-ethnic people of the region. Identity crisis, a sense of alienation and migrancy are some of the dominant features of contemporary politics in the Northeast. There has been a conscious use of ecology as a means for an assertion of identity in the works of the poets of this region.

Some of the representative poets of this region whose works have been enriching the multi-ethnic Indian poetry in English from Northeast either in original writing or through translations are listed below. Mamang Dai, Yumlam Tana (Arunachal Pradesh); Navakanta Baruah, Nilamani Phookan, Hiren Bhattacharya, Harekrishna Deka, Bhupati Das. Lakshahira Das, Dayananda Pathak, Umakanta Sarma, Rupanjali Baruah (Assam); Robin S Ngangom, R.K. Madhurbir, R.K. Bhubonsana, Kunjarani Longjam Chanu, Yumlembam Ibomcha, Thangjam Ibopishak, Raghu Leishangthem, Arambam Ongbi Memchoubi, Saratchand Thiyam, Ilabanta Yumnam, Gambhini Devi

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Kh. Kunjo Singh – Contemporary Ecopolitical Writings in English from North-East India: A Brief Survey

(Manipur); Kynpham Sing Nongkynrih, Desmond L. Kharmawphlang, Tarun Bhartiya, Pijush Dhar, Ananya S Guha, Anjum Hasan, Paul Lyngdoh, Donboklang Ryntathiang, Almond D Syiem, Esther Syiem, Bevan L. Swer, Indari Siyem Warjri (Meghalaya); Mona Zote, Cherrie L. Chhangte, Lalrinmawii Khiangte, L. Biakliana, H. Ramdinthari (Mizoram); Temsula Ao, Monalisa Changkija, Easterine Eralu, Nini Lungalang (Nagaland); Rajendra Bhandari, Guru T. Ladakhi (Sikkim); Bhaskar Roy Barman, Niranjan Chakma, Jagamaya Chakma, Bijoy Kumar Debbarma, Narendra Debbarma, Nandakumar Debbarma, Kalyanbrata Chakraborti, Krittibas Chakraborty, Swapan Sengupta, Sudhanya Tripura, Sefali Debbarma, Chandra Kanta Murasingh, Pijush Routh and Gambhini Sorokkhaibam (Tripura).

In the poetry of these poets there is a continuous urge of going back to the native tradition in search of roots. These writers strongly advocate preservation of their own culture and tradition, which they seem to believe as a powerful way of asserting their own identity amidst cultural and political hegemony. In doing so, they also emphasize on preservation of the ecology of their region, which is synonymous with their self-identity in their perception. Contemporary poetry from the Northeast seems to play a pivotal role in the search for identity, root, traditional values, culture, etc. which are lost in the humdrum of modernization and urbanization. The poets of this region strongly advocate preservation of the ecology of their region to preserve their land, native tradition and culture, and above all, their identity amidst cultural and political hegemony.

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